Just curious if any others here drink Tea instead of Coffee. Ive never been a huge coffee fan, not to mention it bothers my stomach.

So to get my caffeine fix, I'm a tea guy. Curious to see what you guy drink and what you recommend ?

i drink 2-4 cups of green tea daily no sweetener. Up here in the northwest i get it from New Seasons. The hardest part was figuring where to get it.

benefits
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/health-benefits-of-green-tea

I prefer tea. "Earl grey hot". Oops my nerd is showing.

I still use tea bags instead of leaves or any of the fancier tea steeping contraptions.
I like to have something new each time so I buy sampler packs, China Mist has a great sample(although shipping cost is stupid) One of the most unique tea flavors I've had is genmaicha which green tea roasted white rice and brown rice. To describe it is kinda like dirt, but oddly delicious.

Mariage Freres makes some wonderful teas. Very fragrant and tasty. They are a bit pricey, and so far they haven't allowed their teas to be made available to US distributors . You can still order them online. A friend brought back a basket of several types when she was in France, they were delightful! (Chris, just for you, I did avoid "Amazing, Awesome, and Cool" ).

http://www.mariagefreres.com/
http://www.deandeluca.com/coffee-tea-co ... TAodBjsYPg

Then for green teas and fruit/scented TISANES (sorry Daimyo ), there is Lupicia (they also have black teas). They originate from Japan and have shops in the US. If you are lucky to have a shop near you, go in, sniff the teas, and ask for a sample. They will brew up a small pot of hot tea from scratch just for you (done properly--they even pour boiling water to pre-heat the pot, and allow to steep before serving you). Don't be shy about asking for multiple samples, they are very generous about that . Some of the fruit tisanes are heavenly and very delicate.
http://www.lupiciausa.com/

I used to own a tea store in San Diego and sold Chinese and Taiwanese oolongs exclusively. I only brew tea in traditional handmade yi xing clay pots and will b i t c h slap anyone who calls a tisane tea. My favorite teas are Da Hong Pao, Ti Guan Yin, Dong Ding, Pu-erh and a good ginseng oolong like blue people.

ok, don't hit me, I just edited my post

I jest but honestly, that is a pet peeve of most tea enthusiasts. If it's not camellia sinensis, then it isn't tea!

My wife is English, so we go through a lot of tea.
The preferred brand is PG Tips.

Well it IS good to be precise! I keep forgetting about that word "tisane". Poirot used the correct terminology!
...ergh! I had to delete a PM to you (sorry about that!), I meant to hit the "quote" button!

She probably knows the term orange pekoe. Though I do not know the authenticity of the story, my tea master told me quite an amusing anecdote on the subject. Since it was actually the Dutch that first bought tea from the Chinese the Orange is in reference to the Dutch. Pekoe was a term for the undesirable bits of tea that ended up on the floor. Hence floor sweepings for the Dutch was the highest quality tea they sold to outsiders. While many good black teas now wear this designation, I can say for certain the commonly exported Chinese teas are total crap compared to their best product.

i love iced tea with crazy unsweetened flavors

Daimyo, is there a way to get the good stuff from China, or are we westerners doomed to drink the dregs? There are some pretty good teas in SF Chinatown, but I'm not an expert...

There are, in these times, good Chinese tea's available. The tea store should be focused on tea, be able to tell you the year of the tea in question and the tea itself should be made up of the correct pick and rolled and/or dried in the appropriate fashion. After brewing the remains should show that each piece consisted of the bud and top two leaves, all still attached and without damage from rough handling 9excepting teas that are supposed to be a single leaf). The leaves themselves should have basically come back to life during the brewing process. they should be soft, undamaged and retain their elasticity. It should actually feel like your touching a wet leaf you just picked. Good teas should be pricey and there are certainly quality teas available in China Town. Let me talk to some friends as I have not been down their in a bit, I should be able to point you to a good source.

Wonderful! Thank you for lending your expertise. My Mom was super picky about selecting her Chinese teas, and I'm sort of lost without her guidance. I live in San Francisco, and she always came with me to Chinatown to make sure I bought the right kind of tea. The tea store she visited only spoke in Cantonese, some broken english, but my Mom would always give them the inquisition in Cantonese, before making a purchase. The good stuff she picked out was indeed pricey and it sounds like it has all of the characteristics you described. Some of the green teas and oolongs have a heavenly scent! You just have to take the time to savor it and not throw it down the gullet Please clue me in on your secret sources!

I love matcha. I usually go for the mid-price stuff (purchased from Nijiya Market here in SF) and do the whole ritualistic deal to prepare it with the ceramic matcha bowl, specialized bamboo "spoon" and whisk. If you're unfamiliar it can be a bit of an acquired taste, as it has a sort of "grassy" flavor, but once you get past that it's addictively delicious, energizing, and healthy. Despite the presence of some caffeine you don't get that sometimes-nasty coffee buzz feeling from it. It's considered the most powerful of the "superfoods" (above pomegranate, blueberries, etc.) for its high concentration of immune-boosting weight-reducing catechins. The craft of the preparation of the leaves as it's done in Japan is pretty amazing ... it takes a long time from plant to market. There are various grades of matcha, the finest and most expensive being associated with the formal tea ceremony. However you don't have to splurge if interested. A tin that sells for about $8 will last a long time. The ones I buy are around $20, but again, they last long enough that it's worth it. The prep is actually sort of fun once you get it down.

Otherwise I like Stash brand herbal teas. Joe Bunny recently turned me on to Tulsi tea, also known as "holy basil." It's good for soothing the nerves without making you sleepy. Tastes a little like mint.

For traditional English-style tea I've always had a soft spot for Twinings Jasmine.



Mr. Humphreys, be sure to check out "second Chinatown" (Clement Street) as well. There is a very cool tea shop ... I think it's on 6th or 7th Street at Clement ... they'll brew up samples of anything you're interested in for you to taste, and have a huge selection.

^^^Dean, I haven't tried macha yet. The color looks beautiful! I've seen a shop in JP town where they actually freeze the powder, and you have to ask them to unlock the fridge case for some. Does it taste extremely bitter?

Thanks too for the suggestion on that Clement Street tea shop. Mr. Google says it's this one:
http://www.aromateashop.com/store/
Looks interesting!
...now the most DIFFICULT thing is actually trying to park in that area, as the sampling part sounds fun!

That appears to be a quality tea shop, thanks Dean. I'm going to order a few things and see what's up.

First thing I thought when I read Rich's post. I never ever drink coffee. But also, even though I love tea, I don't drink it every day. I have a high body temp and I feel very uncomfortable if the weather is too warm.

Very interesting info D!

Also, what's the deal with the Benoist tea? Is it really only bs?

Axotl, the first time I tried Mariage teas, I was amaz... er, truly astounded!

Dean, the next time we have a BASK Tradefest, how about performing a tea ceremony for us? That would be...prodigiously FUN!

I did a candida cleanse last fall and had to give up coffee after about three decades. So glad I did. Now I drink "breakfast blend" and "gunpowder green" by NUMI.

I still have coffee but on occasions like a dessert.

I have ordered from here and remembered they are in SF. They are currently sold out but I had this http://www.redblossomtea.com/tea/oolong ... zhong.html and it was exquisite. They have some great oolong in general and they get a few that are hard to find in America. You really need to be using a yi xing pot to be getting the proper flavor out of any traditional oolong in my opinion but if that's not an option, a gaiwan is the next best choice.

I have a couple different pucks of Pu-erh, and I just brought back some Matcha from Japan. I also drink coffee. Also Earl Grey, cold while I'm at work. No sugar in any of them. Basically I'm well caffeinated throughout the day. Drink until your molecules start to vibrate, then stop.

Green Tea with Jasmine, or some Tropical Black Tea.
Two bags.
Add honey.
Sip and enjoy the slow buzz.
Drink some in the morning for a wake-up.
And then again in the afternoon for a pick-up.

I've always liked Earl Grey . . . . I got into Green Tea since visiting Japan but it took a while to acquire a proper taste for it

I remember buying a green tea drink from the hallway vending machine in a Shinjuku hotel and ***BLECH*** it tasted like burnt twigs to me at the time!
I stuck to stuff like QOO and Fanta Grape after that . . . .

i tend to drift back and forth between genmaicha and sencha, but as soon as i find a chawan i like, i'll add matcha into the rotation as well.

one of my first projects after graduation was a packaging redesign for a hot tea company out of san francisco, which had just been purchased
by a larger iced tea company in arizona as their hot division. that was like a crash course in tea history, and my first venture into anything
other than good old-fashioned sun tea.